Eclipse: Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight of Eclipse. We're almost done here, I'll probably end in Chapter Ten or Eleven. Chapter Eight Rosepaw was suddenly awoken by Dustfoot. "Wake up! We're about to go to the gathering!" Out of courtesy, Rosepaw had been allowed a place with the warriors, in their den, although she preferred the calm wheezing coming from Nutpaw over the snoring of the warriors by far. It was good, though, that Dustfoot had woken her up. "Alright, alright." Rosepaw got out of her nest and padded towards the center of camp, where I was talking from up on the Gathering Rock. "Mousetail, Duskflower, Mudspots, and Cherrypaw will stay here, and everyone else can come. Any elders can come if they wish, I don't really mind." I said. "What about the younger apprentices?" said a warrior from the crowd. "Are they coming to the Gathering?" I thought for a moment, and then said, "They will have a place of honor guarding our camp for tonight. Let them stay." And I hopped down from the Gathering Rock. I led the cats out of camp, towards the island. Rosepaw caught up with me halfway to the island, looking slightly annoyed. "I thought that you said that my ceremony was tonight." "It was." I said, embarrased. "And then the full moon rose in the sky." Rosepaw growled quietly, and sunk back towards the center of the crowd. The moon was incredibly bright, and the stars were tiny sparkles in the black fur of Silverpelt. It was an amazing night to have a Gathering. I climbed carefully up the bony, rough tree and set myself down on the top branch next to the ThunderClan leader. "So which of us should start?" "I will." Runningstar volunteered. "Alright! Let the gathering begin!" he yowled across the crowd of cats gathered below. "I will begin with ShadowClan's news." He continued, "We have two new warriors, Dawnberry and Redsky, and a new apprentice, Darkpaw. There was a border dispute a moon ago that..." I had been listening, sort of detached, as the rest of the leaders went on with their information. I was terribly bored, and when it came my turn, I was startled and sat upright. "We will have a new warrior tomorrow evening..." I began, thinking of Rosepaw. "Because we were unable to do the ceremony tonight. Otherwise we have no terribly important new-" "Yes we do!" yowled Darkfern up towards me. My deputy gave me a curious glance and I continued. "She is correct, there was something I forgot. Darkfern, I'll let you repeat it to them. Step up to a lower branch on the tree." Darkfern nodded and climbed clumsily up to the lowest branch. "There is a new prophecy. I know what you're all thinking, but it is as real as the tree I stand on now." With that comment, she had the attention of all the Clans. "When all of us, the medicine cats, went to the half-moon ceremony at the Moonpool, a prophecy was revealed. I was the only one brave enough to share it with my Clan." She continued, and repeated the prophecy that had already echoed in my head. "But it DOES NOT mean Swiftstar's death! That's where I went wrong! But we believe that there will be a clan-wide forest fire, or a similar disaster. At the first warning, we need to be gone!" I was the only leader that looked calm. The WindClan leader stuttered, and Runningstar shouted, "We can't just leave the territory! We would be subject to worse things than fire!" "You've never been outside of the territories. How would you know?" said Darkfern with a hint of a smile on her face. This is where I knew the argument would spiral out of control, so I stepped in. "Darkfern has a point. I have been outside of the territories, and the worst we would have to worry about is badgers, which can be taken down quickly by a few warriors. Though, I'm not saying we leave if a rock rolls down a hill. All I mean is that we need to be on the lookout." "Fair enough." There were a few more comments, and the leaders began to get down from the tree. Darkfern felt something strange. A ripple beneath the earth, a call from far away. The clawing that had been there since the prophecy was found became harder, raking her insides. "Wait-" she called out as the last leader got off the tree, and she was interrupted as her world literally shook. I dug my claws into the ground as there was a massive rumbling vibration. I heard rocks tumbling down from cliffs far away, shattering the life beneath them. "What's going on?!" several cats yowled. The water in the lake washed back and forth in high waves that the Clans had never seen before. "Stay down and hold on to the ground! Stay away from the rock!!" I shouted to them. "Just hold on!" I was more or less tired before, but now I was wide awake, shaken quite literally by the quaking beneath us. "Would this be an earth-shaking, or...?" someone said. None of us had ever seen anything like it. "An earthquake! It's an earthquake!" I shouted. The rumbling quieted suddenly, and everything was still. "Is everyone all right?" I yowled. All of the cats in the crowd nodded. "Good. Next time, stay away from the rocks. But I believe that StarClan itself has adjourned the Gathering. Let's go." And I stepped forward to lead my clan back, remembering what I had felt after the Eclipse. Category:Fanfictions Category:Cryptic Lynx's Fanfictions